Texas Museum of Science and Technology facts for kids
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| Established | 2015 |
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| Dissolved | TXMOST is now CLOSED due to a lack of funding. |
| Location | Cedar Park, Texas |
| Type | Science museum |
The Texas Museum of Science & Technology (TXMOST) was a cool place for science and tech fans. It opened in March 2015 in Cedar Park, Texas. The museum had the first planetarium in the Austin area. It also featured special traveling shows and a permanent exhibit called Timewalk. This exhibit showed fossils and dinosaur bones from all over the world.
TXMOST planned to do even more. They wanted to expand their mobile planetarium programs. They also aimed to host field trips and summer camps. The goal was to build many permanent exhibits about science and technology. Sadly, TXMOST is now closed because it ran out of money.
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How TXMOST Started
The idea for TXMOST began as "Friends of the Austin Planetarium." Later, it was simply called Austin Planetarium. This group started by offering a mobile planetarium program. They would bring a portable planetarium to different places.
This program was very popular. People wanted a permanent place for science and technology learning. So, on March 20, 2015, a temporary museum opened. Its name changed to the Texas Museum of Science & Technology. This was the first museum of its kind in Central Texas. This area is home to many science and tech companies.
Cool Exhibits at TXMOST
TXMOST had two main exhibit areas. One was a large, round planetarium. It was 33 feet wide! Here, visitors could watch live star shows. They could also see pre-recorded movies about space.
The other main exhibit was the Timewalk. This show took you on a journey through Earth's history. You could see how life changed from the oldest fossils to the Age of Mammals.
Special Traveling Shows
The museum also hosted special exhibits that traveled from other places.
Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion
In late 2017, one exhibit was Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion. This show featured amazing machines. They were built based on Leonardo da Vinci's original drawings. You could explore his ideas, like a glider or an armored tank. Modern engineers recreated these incredible inventions.
Past Popular Exhibits
TXMOST also had other exciting shows in the past:
- Tutankhamun: “Wonderful Things” from the Pharaoh’s Tomb was on display. This exhibit showed amazing items from an ancient Egyptian pharaoh's tomb. It was there from November 2016 to September 2017.
- Body Worlds - the Cycle of Life was a major exhibit when the museum first opened. It showed real human bodies to teach about how our bodies work. This exhibit stayed until November 2015.
- The museum worked with the Exploratorium to show hands-on science exhibits. These exhibits taught about physics, like light and sound.
- TXMOST also hosted a traveling exhibit from NASA’s Johnson Space Center. This show explored space travel. It celebrated the opening of the museum's digital planetarium.
- The museum displayed winning photos from the Nikon Small World Microphotography Competition. These were amazing close-up pictures of tiny things.
Museum Connections
The Texas Museum of Science & Technology was part of several groups:
- Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC)
- Austin Museum Partnership (AMP)
- Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations
